Back on the Roads: Edmonton Marathon

I returned to the roads on Sunday, running the Edmonton Marathon, but it was a different experience than I remember that is for sure. Heading into the race I was fairly relaxed knowing it wasn't really a huge focus of mine to go out there and kill myself trying to win, being that I hadn't trained specifically for a road marathon. What little apprehension I had was due to not having the speed in my legs and thus expecting it to feel like I was sprinting the whole way. Fortunately this wasn't really an issue. The only real problem heading into the race was the decision by my friend Shawn and I at 1pm Saturday to make a day trip out to Fort McMurray to see the Oil Sands with our own eyes. Its 4+ hours one way, which ended up as a 12 hour journey once I picked up my race package. In the end I managed to get at most 2.5 hours of sleep in before the race, however I didn't stress out about it because I never count on getting sleep the night before a race because often its a fitful one anyway. I had made sure to get 10+ hours friday night. SO, other than 10 hours in a truck and 2.5 hours sleep everything else leading up went perfectly, aside from being hungry at the start.


I'm unsure of why I was so hungry at the start, I had my customary 2 slices of toast and jam an hour before the race started so I should have been ok. Nevertheless I wasn't worried because I had sewn an extra pocket into my shorts so it would be easy to pack away 2 gels and carry one in each hand, thus having enough calories for 2.5 hours of running wasn't a concern. We showed up 15mins before the race so I jogged around a bit on a not so cool morning, hopped the fence to get to the front of the line, said a couple of hellos and off we went. My plan was to go out real easy because I knew it would take a while to get warmed up so I just jogged away and in a few hundred meters settled in with 3 other guys as we watched the eventual winner jog off into the distance. Very early on it was a race for second. My companions were Brendan Lunty(last years winner), David Corbett, and Geoff Hopfner. Following Brendan's lead we started clicking off 3:30kms which felt comfortable so I just stuck in with them and took a turn at the lead around 6k, then gave it back up to Brendan till about 20k. Being the hometown favorite I figured i'd let him lead away and i'd happily use his wind-shadow! I think around 17 or 18k Brendan and I seemed to be dropping David and Geoff, then at the water station around 20k I came out 10meters or so ahead of Brendan. Waiting for him for a couple hundred meters it didn't look as though he was trying to catch up and run with me so I decided to just get going a bit. We had been running about 3:36/km since about 12k maybe so I dropped it down to sub 3:30s till about 27k, where I decided I would take it easy for 5k, then push it for the last 10.195km.  Running alone I was fortunate to have a volunteer cyclist to show me the way and we chatted away which helped to pass the time. Apparently last year Brendan closed out fast the last 10k which prompted my plan of pushing hard the last 10k. 


Throughout the first half of the race the weather had been pretty great but also deceiving. The first half was obviously cooler because of the time of day, but also there were a lot of trees lining the streets so there was a lot of shade. Heading into the second out and back we were out in the open most of the time so it actually got quite hot out, and when you combine this with a shortage of liquids, taking 5k easy was probably the best thing I could have done. I generally don't do well in the heat but it wasn't as debilitating as I have felt in other races. So taking the 5k easy was a great plan, however my nutrition discipline had wavered. My plan was to take on a gel on the half hour, but because I was feeling so good at halfway I figured I would only have one more gel after 45mins. This was also somewhat of a precaution because I hadn't been taking on as much water as I would have liked and was worried about stomach issues with too much sugar in my stomach and not enough water. In the end, well in the last 10k, this plan would come back to haunt me a bit. Anyway, back to the race, after my 5k relatively easy I punched the split button on my watch and started moving quickly again, I brought it back down to 3:30/km but it was short lived and I settled into 3:35-3:37 territory for a while. Unfortunately as I said earlier I should have stuck with my nutrition plan because once I reached the top of the hill at 36km I was starting to struggle a bit energy-wise. As things started to feel rough I was was close enough to the finish that I didn't care too much to grind out the rest of the run. In fact I ended up not even taking on any water for fear that I would get a cramp or something. Basically I just wanted to be done and so I focused on staying efficient and just got my grind on. The last couple of kilometers were in the neighbourhood of 4:10-4:15, maybe slower, which was getting pretty ugly but the cheers and knowing I was close, and constant updates on which turns were up next from my cyclist Pete helped me to push on to the end. I came through at 2:35.09 which I was pleased with at the time and still am. Thanks to Brendan for the early pace work, Pete for the directions and company, and Brian Torrance for the elite organizing. It was a stretch to be considering me 'elite' after my absence.


The question is really what to make of it all. I was happy to be out there and running again, it was a familiar feeling to be running down the middle of a closed road, cruising through water stations, and running in a pack at a more or less comfortable pace, but I didn't really have the competitive fire. Not to say that I have ever had a raging competitive fire, but I felt more like I was racing alone than probably any other time i've raced on the roads. It could have been a training run or time trial. I suppose the reason I feel this way is because I hadn't built the race up and wasn't "marathon fit," and the fitness I had was for runs much longer, making the distance of the marathon of secondary difficulty to the actual pace I would have to run it. Having said this, I did enjoy the whole experience and came away with motivation to participate in a race again, AND to be a bit more focused in my training. Well, maybe not more focused but do a bit more marathon specific work leading up to the Victoria Marathon. I'm by no means planning to get into hardcore training for road racing again that is for certain, but I am also not averse to the idea of running a road marathon now and again.


Once my friend Shawn sends me the photos i'll share my Fort McMurray/Oil Sands Experience. Although the trip may have adversely affected my race it was important for me to see this project with my own two eyes. I wasn't shocked or surprised, it just made my convictions more concrete.


Next up, one last epic north shore run next week before I move on Thursday to Victoria!

W/E August 21

mon - 10mi
tues - 6mi w/ 1k(3:24)
wed - 6mi w/ 1600m(5:38)
thurs - 10mi
fri - off
sat - off
sun - 26.2mi - 2:35.09
~ 58mi


Well, this week I took it easy leading into the race and it worked out reasonably well. My legs were taking a long time to come around after the last long run the previous Wednesday, and well the whole of that week being tiring. I tried to do a bit of pace work this week and it probably helped a bit as the group I ran half the race in was running 3:30-3:36 km pace. I'll write up a race report soon. Next up, Victoria Marathon on October 9th. I think i'll try and get a bit of speed going before that one, and maybe a few road miles....or miles in general, 70mi/wk can only get you so far!

W/E August 14

mon - 6mi around town
tues - Off, resting
wed - Buntzen-Sasamat Lakes loop: 40 miles or so
thurs - Off, headed over to Victoria again, lots of biking around
fri - 10mi around town in Vic, hours of biking
sat - 10mi w/ sprint up 'Mount' Douglas in Vic.
sun - 14mi w/ 15 km @ 2:40 marathon pace
'bout 80 miles


Decent week of running, but again, nothing special. The long run on wednesday was really frustrating because I was in an area I had never run in before and took  a lot of wrong turns, eventually ending the run early because I was pretty tired anyway. I'll have to map it out again but it was a good 40 miles. I was over in Victoria yet again to do a housing search and came up successful on Saturday so that is a relief but my nutrition sucked while I was there, then I had to come back and work night shift Saturday night. SO, my semi-workout today was pretty lackluster. I did loops around the park where I do my hill repeat workout so its not exactly a flat route, but either way I had hoped that I would be able to run closer to 2:30 marathon pace(3:33.3/km) rather than the 3:49.6/km pace that I did run but that's just where my legs were at today and i'm not too concerned about it. The effort was where I wanted it to be. So there it is. The hay is in the barn for this one.


Post script: This week i'll take it pretty easy and make sure I do a mile or so at marathon pace each day and some strides to get the legs moving, but really I just need to eat and sleep well and hope that my legs don't feel quite so blown out come next Sunday.  I have also decided that I won't be wearing my calf sleeves for the race which I had originally intended. On my run today I felt that they could potentially become annoying in the later stages of the race and make me feel bit less efficient/fluid when i'm running. I do maintain that they keep my calves from getting too beat up, which would be helpful post race but i'm not too concerned about that, so long as my calves survive the race itself. The second consideration is that if its warm I will prefer not to have more skin covered. Looking forward to toeing the line!

W/E August 7

Mon - Coliseum/Burwell Mountain Run
Tues - 80-90mins biking
Wed - 13mi
Thurs - 6.5 mi city run
Fri - 10mi w/ hill sprints
Sat - 10mi
Sun - Pitch'n Putt Hills(1:49, 1:55, 1:56, 1:52, 1:54, 1:55 off 2:15) 1:53.5 avg
'round 85miles this week


All things considered this week was satisfactory. I was really happy with the long run but for some reason I couldn't sleep after it then I had to work a night shift, and I had planned to go straight to Victoria afterward to start my housing search. It turns out on a tuesday morning after a long weekend the number of people going back to Victoria on the ferry is ridiculous and so I missed the bus(only two bikes at a time). I would still make the ferry if I took a different bus and biked from Ladner to the terminal, not just biked, but hammered for 20 odd minutes full out. Then toward the end of the ferry trip I fell asleep and they had to wake me up to kick me off the boat, so again, no chance of putting my bike on the bus. So, I opted to bike into town since it was a nice day and I had run it before so biking should be easy. Anyway, it made for a long day being up since 730am the previous day. This combo added to being out of town made for a tiring week and it took me until Sunday to work up the motivation to do a work out. It ended up going reasonably well but I decided on an abbreviated version mainly out of mental weakness because my legs were surprisingly strong. So thats that, planning on another shot at the Buntzen loop on Wednesday and possibly the Delta Half marathon on Sunday depending on the work schedule. Happy trails.

Coliseum Mtn/Mt Burwell Run

I've been wanting to do this run for a while so ambition nearly got the best of me on this one. I'd been sick for a few days but felt a bit of energy back in my body on Sunday and so I figured I'd wake up at a reasonable hour and head out for a long run if I felt alright.  This was the case so I packed up and headed out the door around 830am on Monday. Compared to the run to Vic my bag felt very light with only a liter of water and whatever fuel I had in the house, about 6 hours worth I figure. I was still a bit congested so I knew my body wasnt 100% which prompted me to head out at an easier pace than I usually do. The plan was to at best run up Coliseum and back, not knowing really how long it would take, or to run up then take the bus back from Lynn Headwaters park. So it took me a few minutes longer to get into the bush on the Seymour river than usual, but I was feeling alright and the climb from the west side of the river over to Lynn Headwaters park went reasonably well. Having taken on a decent amount of water I stopped and refilled my bladder in Lynn creek and continued my conservative jog out to the trail-head for Coliseum. A detailed map of Lynn Headwaters trails is here. It's about a 7k approach which has a very slight climb to it.

From the turn off it abruptly starts up hill roughly following the valley carved by Norvan Creek, which is actually pretty steep at points. The hike over all is apparently 10% grade, but there were many sections which reminded me of the BCMC(parallel to Grouse Grind). There were also some up and down sections which brought the average down. Unlike the ascent of Grouse and Seymour the trail is far less used and maintained, in fact, the "Trail Closed due to Unsafe Snow Conditions" sign was still up. Needless to say the trail was very technical and slow going at the best of times. There was a lot of mud, snow, creeks, rock chutes, steep root ladders, and the hardest climbs were in the snow where I had to kick my toes in so I didn't slide down. Despite the mud etc. below the alpine things went reasonably well but once I reached the alpine and snow my body was pretty much done. This wasn't a great point to get tired because the steep slog up the snow was going to be far more tiring that I had expected. Well, I knew it would be tiring but perhaps I thought i'd be tougher! Anyway, I followed the footsteps of some hikers who I passed on the way up, which helped with the traction, but the slipping in the snow was getting to me and I was very quickly running low on energy so I kept my eyes on the peak and slogged on. Once I reached what I had thought was the summit I quickly realized the true summit was behind this and I would have to head down the snow for about 50m or so(elevation) then up another 150m or so! This was pretty deflating but I wasn't about to stop now, I figured it would only be another 30mins, so off I went, and this time I had a couple of people to run after who were nearly up the true summit. Even though I was exhausted this part of the run was my favorite because I have been looking forward to running in the alpine for months now, among the mountain peaks. It was stunningly beautiful. Heading up the the main peak was absolutely brutal and the steep snow had me reduced to a slow hike, but at that point I just didn't care, the beauty was all that was keeping my will to live intact. I ended up making it alive.

SO, I tweeted that I set a new time-spent-on-the-legs PB of 6h51m, but that's a bit of a lie because when I reached the summit I ended up taking my shoes, socks and calf sleeves off, eating a powerbar and laying down/walking around for an hour. There weren't even many flies around, at least bite-y ones, which made it a great break. Anyone who hikes now and again can appreciate the serenity of being atop a mountain and more than anything I wanted to soak up the beauty and the feeling. It actually did take nearly an hour for me to get motivated to run back down, and when I did pack up and head out my legs were still feeling pretty done. As I ascended the lower peak again, I realized my legs pretty well had nothing in them and I probably would have to take the bus home as soon as I could find one. Not only were my legs cooked but on my way down I took a bit of a wrong turn and started on the trail down to the Seymour river. I was busy looking at my feet as I slid down the snow and didn't realize which footprints I was following. Rookie mistake! Always do your own trail finding and use footprints as confirmation, especially with snow melting rapidly! I wasn't interested in taking that route down so I did a bit of bush whacking/rock climbing to get back onto the trail I came up on. Energy I was not pleased about expending. Once I was back on trail I mentally regrouped and continued the quick decent, filling up my spent water bladder at a creek on the way. 

The descent, including the detour was only 20mins quicker than the ascent because the trail was so technical and the risk of falling was too great to get any kind of speed. In fact I did put my heel down first a couple of times and had it slip out from under me, nothing serious though.  I enjoyed the jog down quite a bit but as with any long descent after about 1000m your knees have had enough and you really just want to be done with it. Once I did reach the trail-head at 190m elevation(the peak was 1446m) I was pleasantly surprised by my legs coming back to me. On the run back to the Lynn Headwaters park entrance my legs felt quite good so I kept drinking lots of water and eating what was left of my fuel and kept the run going all the way to Dollarton Highway on the north side of the Second Narrows Bridge. I was and am super stoked about how good I felt for the last 90+mins of this run. I was having doubts about my ability to run really long distances but it appears(although not clear because of the hour break) that I can rebound and feel energetic and strong after being in the depths of despair. I mapped the run and the link is below however the distance is wrong. On the map-my-run that I did, the distance to the top of the mountain was 28km or so from my house, but on the Club Tread site the distance from the trail-head to peak, round-trip is 23.6km, which, would then make the 'out' portion of the run roughly 8km further. This distance of ~36km makes more sense to me because the peak was parallel to the Seymour Dam, which I ran before and was mapped on the road to be 28km. The way to Coliseum also has some switchbacks which the other route doesn't. ANYWAY, that probably sounds confusing but i'm gonna go with the longer estimate of 36km because it makes me feel better giving me a total distance of about 62km. 

Here's some photos I took along the way:

Wikkid run. Next week: another crack at the Buntzen loop I hope.



POST SCRIPT:  After looking at google earth again, it turns out the first summit was in fact the summit of Coliseum Mountain, and the final peak I went to was the summit of Mount Burwell(1541m). Oops!